Realizing that they did not have enough supplies to wait for a rescue, Scott conceived the idea of locking the transporterpattern buffer into a diagnostic cycle, and then cross-connecting the buffer to the phase inducers to provide a regenerative power source. This effectively allowed Scott and Franklin to survive in a dematerialized state of suspended animation until they could be rescued.

This innovation proved successful for Scott, who was rescued by the crew of the USS Enterprise-D75 years later, but Franklin's pattern had degraded 53 percent due to the failure of one of the inducers, effectively killing him.

Scott later remarked that "he was a good lad". He also dismissed Geordi La Forge's admiration of the method used to preserve them, which La Forge had referred to as "absolutely brilliant", to only have been "50% brilliant", adding, "Franklin deserved better". (TNG: "Relics")

This character was only mentioned in dialogue.

Franklin's status as an ensign was mentioned in the episode's script, but not spoken on-screen. [1]